Sporting Madness

Photo: Hamilton RB DeAndra Cobb (Michigan State) dances in for a touchdown before Toronto safety Willie Pile (Virginia Tech) can stop him. The Tiger-Cats won 16-12. Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards , your weekly guide to the CFL! Only two games to cover last week and this week thanks to byes, so we'll get right to them. I'll also be live-blogging tonight's B.C. Lions - Calgary Stampeders clash tonight with the usual suspects in the CFL.ca Friday Night Football Live Chat ; make sure to come join us at 10:30 Eastern/7:30 Pacific! Game of the Week: Hamilton 16, Toronto 12 This edition of the Battle of Ontario was surprisingly entertaining despite the low score. Both teams' defences came to play and delivered impressive performances, particularly early; the score was 3-3 after the first quarter and 9-3 for Toronto at halftime. The Argonauts extended their lead to 12-3 in the third, but fell apart down the stretch, conceding 13 unanswered fourth-...

Photo: Calgary wide receiver Nik Lewis (Southern Arkansas) fights off three Edmonton Eskimos to score a touchdown Sunday. The Stampeders won 56-15. [ Todd Korol , Reuters ] Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards ! Here's a breakdown of all of this past week's action, as well as a preview of this week's games. Game of the Week: Calgary 56, Edmonton 15 Most weeks, the game I feature in this slot is either a close result or an unexpected one. This game doesn't meet either of those criteria, but it deserves inclusion just for the sheer magnitude of this wipeout. As Professor Stephan might say , "This isn't entertainment, it's genocide!" Stampeders' pivot Henry Burris (Temple) had perhaps his best game of the season, completing 21 of 29 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns with nary a pick in sight. Backup Drew Tate got some action in mop-up duty and was also impressive, going four-for-four for 40 yards and a touchdown and...

Photo: Toronto Argonauts' running back Cory Boyd (South Carolina) dives into the end zone for the tying touchdown in the last minute of the Toronto - Edmonton clash last Friday. The Argonauts won 29-28. [ Dan Riedlhuber , Reuters ] Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards! Here's my breakdown of all of Week 6's CFL action and previews of the coming week. Game of the Week: Toronto 29, Edmonton 28 A slow-starting game between two teams that aren't all that highly-regarded turned into a barnburner Friday night. 3-2 Toronto came out strong and scored 11 points in the first quarter on the road against a 1-4 Eskimos team that only picked up its first win the previous week. The Argonauts led 19-7 at the half, and it looked like this might be a blowout. Edmonton turned it on in the second half, though, with Arkee Whitlock (Southern Illinois) plunging one yard for a touchdown on the Eskimos' first drive. Slotback Jason Barnes (Sacramento State) then m...

Photo: Some Edmonton Eskimos fans resorted to the ever-popular "bag on the head" look last Friday against the B.C. Lions. The Eskimos came away with a 28-25 win, their first of the season, but general manager Danny Maciocia was fired after the game anyway [ Dan Riedlhuber , Reuters ] Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards ! Here's my breakdown of all of Week 5's CFL action and previews of the coming week. Game of the week: Edmonton 28, B.C. 25 This was a surprisingly interesting Friday Night Football clash between the 1-3 Lions and the 0-4 Eskimos. There wasn't a lot of offence at first, but there was a little juice added after a lightning storm forced an early halftime break. B.C. took a 25-21 lead with eight minutes to go when Yonus Davis (San Jose State) returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, but Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray (Sacramento State) found Kelly Campbell (Georgia Tech) for a 46-yard gain on the ensuing drive and ...

Photo: Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back Leron Mitchell (Western) tries unsuccessfully to block Calgary Stampeders receiver Deon Murphy (Kansas State) last Saturday. Calgary won 40-20. [ Zuma Press ] Welcome to another edition of The Whole 110 Yards ! Here's the breakdown on all of Week 4's CFL action. Sorry this is later than usual; it's been a hectic week around here. I'll try to get the Week 5 edition up early this coming week. Game of the week: Calgary 40, Saskatchewan 20 This was a pretty remarkable result, if not a remarkable game. Calgary had looked very vulnerable the week before, falling 27-24 to Toronto in last week's Game Of The Week , while the defending West Division champion Roughriders rolled into Calgary's McMahon Stadium with a 3-0 record. Stampeders' quarterback Henry Burris (Temple) finally displayed some of his usual form, though, completing 21 of 31 passes for 279 yards and four touchdowns. He was picked off twice, b...

Photo: Toronto Argonauts cornerback Evan McCollough intercepts a pass intended for Calgary Stampeders slotback P.K. Sam in their clash Wednesday, July 14. Toronto won 27-24 to improve to 2-1 on the year. [ Mark Blinch , Reuters ] Welcome to another issue of The Whole 110 Yards , your weekly update on the CFL complete with game recaps, off-field stories, former college football stars and predictions for this weekend's games! Also, I'll again be running the CFL.ca Friday Night Football Live Chat tomorrow with Brian Wawryshyn of BC Lions Den and Tyler Bieber of CFL Daily . This week's featured matchup is the B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts, and we'll kick off the chat at 4:15 p.m. Pacific (7:15 p.m. Eastern) tomorrow evening; make sure to come join us then! Game of the Week: Toronto 27, Calgary 24 In recent years, the Toronto Argonauts have tended to receive more national coverage than any other CFL team. That's understandable, considering that they...

The Whole 110 Yards is back ! Here's analysis of Week 2 in the CFL, and previews of the three games still to come in Week 3. Also, I'll be running the Friday Night Football live chat for tonight's game between Winnipeg and Hamilton game over at CFL.ca , with Jann Shreve of BCLionsDen.ca . Game of the Week: Toronto 36, Winnipeg 34 Last week's Friday night game showcased the high-scoring action we've come to expect from the CFL, but that was perhaps surprising given the teams involved. Both the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been known for inept offences in the past few years, but they put on an impressive show Friday. The Buck Pierce Era appears in full swing in Winnipeg, as the former New Mexico State and B.C. Lions quarterback has settled in nicely under centre for the Bombers. He completed 25 of 35 passes for 366 yards and three touchdowns despite being picked off once. Perhaps more impressive were his seven scrambles for 103 yar...

I'm planning plenty of CFL coverage this year, including bringing back the weekly The Whole 110 Yards column that I used to write at The Rookies . Here's the initial installment, breaking down last week's games and previewing this week's clashes. I'm also live-blogging tonight's Friday Night Football game over at CFL.ca with Brian Wawryshyn and Tyler Bieber ; make sure to swing by there! Game of the Week: Saskatchewan 54, Montreal 51 [CP, via Yahoo! ] This rematch of the 2009 Grey Cup was almost as spectacular. The Riders trailed 33-12 early on in the second half, but scored four second-half touchdowns to send the game to overtime and then added another two to seal the third-highest scoring game in CFL history in the extra frame. Darian Durant (North Carolina) started the game poorly, but turned in a tremendous second half and finished with 29 completions on 44 attempts for 581 yards and five touchdowns, with no interceptions. The Riders' Canadia...

Thanks to finally having a bit of time, I've brought back my The Whole 110 Yards CFL column over at The Rookies . My latest installment, a playoff preview, ran yesterday ; it might be worth a read if you're interested in looking at how my predictions compared to what actually happened. I'll hopefully have another installment up Tuesday breaking down yesterday's playoff games, and I'll be covering the CFL playoffs here and there all the way through the playoffs to the Grey Cup, which I'm headed to Calgary for. If yesterday's games are any indication, we could be in for a great ride!